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Brazil humble Greece. Japan let lead slip.
The Confederations Cup continued with group B action seeing the South American and world champions taking on the unlikely European champions in the pick of the two matches. Unfortunatly for Greece, it was a humbling defeat.
Greece were the underdogs from the outset against Brazil but held high hopes after proving they had the goods in the European championships last year. And they started brightly with Sotirios Kyrgiakos going close with a header in the 2nd minute. However their bright start was slowly calmed down by the Brazilians as they started to assert their authority in the match. Robinho started his man of the match performance with two shots on the 16th and 18th minutes, both forcing saves from Greece's last man Antonios Nikopolidis.
Brazil stepped up the pace but Greece withstood their attacks, forcing the Brazilian stars to shoot from distance. It started to look like they could holdout the Brazilian attack for the break until Adriano hammered home a 25 metre screamer on 41 minutes. The goal forced Greece to step up the pace though and Angelos Charisteas almost had an equiliser soon after Adriano's effort.
A double substitution at half time failed to spark Greek hopes when Brazil's lead was doubled soon after the break. Gilberto broke free and while attracting all the attention from Greek defenders, his cross found an unmarked Robinho lurking at the back post to slide in and put away the goal in the 46th minute. The goal crushed Greece's spirit and Brazil were granted much more space during the rest of the game.
In cruise control, Brazil rested superstars Ronaldinho, Adriano and Kaka, bringing on Renato, Ricardo Oliveira and Juninho Pernambucano respectively. It was Juninho's inclusion that brought the third goal of the match.
Four minutes after stepping onto the field Juninho curled a fantastic free kick over the wall and into the near corner of the net, leaving Nikopolodis watching from his line in the 81st minute.
Brazil showed why they are ranked number one in the world in this display and it was needed after failing to overcome arch rivals Argentina in their recent world cup qualifier.
In the other group B match Japan let a single goal lead slip to go down 1-2 to Mexico.
In a match that saw an explosive and exciting pace start the match, it was Mexico who dominated early play. Pavel Pardo shot after 8 minutes only to see his shot fail to stay on target. Pardo came close to earning an assist when Carlos Salcido failed to latch onto his cross. Amid the Mexican attacks, Japan broke away and surprised the Mexican defence with a swift goal to goal move. Atsushi Yanagisawa made the final touch on a Mitsuo Ogasawara cross to make it 1-0 on 13 minutes.
Japan's goal shook the Mexicans and Japan enjoyed a period of attack, creating numerous chances. None of which they could finish however. Mexico slowly turned the tables back in their favour when Jared Borgetti, Mexico's star striker, headed towards goal on 28 minutes. However Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi was equal to the world cup qualifiers leading goal scorers effort.
Stung back into action, Mexico started firing shots off at the Japanese goal. The equiliser came when Zinha pulled the trigger from 30 yards out and saw his shot fly past the outstreched hand of Kawaguchi on 39 minutes.
Mexico dominated possession in the start of the second half but couldn't take advantage of the ball. Japan holding on waiting for the chance to break up field once more.
Just past the hour, the deciding goal came when Jose Fonseca got his head to the ball and flicked it into the back of the net.
Needing to score now, Japan pushed forward but couldn't find the secodn goal in the remaining half hour. Mexico taking the points.
18 June, 2005 |
